


blind eye

by jswoon2



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: 5 Things, Fluff, M/M, Originally Posted on Tumblr, POV Outsider, Roommates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-12
Updated: 2018-03-12
Packaged: 2019-03-30 03:36:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13941762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jswoon2/pseuds/jswoon2
Summary: Gabe looks between Josty and JT trying to explain his thought process — how he put two and two together to get a couple out of their rookies — to Nate when it clicks. “Oh my god. They were roommates.”





	blind eye

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on sinkpages.tumblr.com
> 
> Not beta'd, only proofread. Comments and kudos are lovely!

Gabe looks between Josty and JT trying to explain his thought process — how he put two and two together to get a couple out of their rookies — to Nate when it clicks. “Oh my god.  _They were roommates_.”

“What does that even mean?” Nate asks in return, confused.

It’s okay. Gabe is the captain. He can break it down more.

 

**

 

JT gets the call up from the Rampage first which gives him enough time to acclimate himself in Denver before one of his Rampage friends gets the call up too. That friend is Tyson Jost.

Tys, Tyson #2, Josty, the Jostmiester.

The spirit in the locker room for the most part is down. They’re not having a great season so really, all the Avalanche can really do is go up. They literally cannot get any worse than they’ve already been performing. As captain, Gabe is delegated to take care of all the motivational speeches and he tries, but he’s tired. He’s tired of losing, he’s tired of working on lines with chemistry that keeps missing the mark, and he’s tired of this season.

His captainly duty should lead him to making sure that Tyson feels welcome to Denver but he doesn’t have the energy. He tries and his effort ends up feeling half assed.

Rookies stick together though so instead of Gabe opening his home for the rookie, JT invites Tyson to go apartment hunting with him. JT is in need of a roommate and Tyson is in need of, well, a room.

Luckily, Tyson doesn’t have to suffer for as long as the rest of them. He only plays the last few games of their season before it ends.

The Avalanche is a young team though. Gabe is more confident in their next season that something, literally  _anything_  will go right for them. So he goes back to Sweden for the summer to relax and train, attends some weddings, and comes back for a new season feeling refreshed.

Most things are the same. Others take Gabe longer to put his finger on.

 

> *1*
> 
>  

“You left this at my house,” Josty tells JT, handing him an opaque plastic bag. Gabe can’t tell what’s inside but Tyson is already making his away across the locker room to be nosy.

“What’s in the bag?” Tyson asks, trapping both rookies into headlocks as he takes over JT’s stall to make room for himself. Jost admits defeat while JT tries to use his big body to wiggle out of Tysons grasp. “Bring us anything?”

“It’s just a jacket I left at Tys’s house,” JT replies. He even takes it out of the bag to show Tyson. The jacket is Rampage issued with his number on the shoulder and JT’s name on the back.

“You guys hung out over the break?” Nate butts in, his shoulders slumped. “Why don’t we do that?” he asks Gabe.

“You never called,” Gabe answers.

“You saw me over the summer,” Tyson points out to Nate, “am I not enough for you?”

Nate makes an awkward noise. “Yeah, of course, dude. You’re plenty.”

After practice Gabe logs onto his Twitter for the first time in months. Sitting on the top of his feed are retweeted pictures of Josty and Comphy standing in front of a lion exhibit. The original tweet is from Josty’s sister. The caption:  _third wheeling with these boys_.

Just bros being bros, taking one bro’s sister with them to the zoo for… supervision?

 

> *2*
> 
>  

Gabe gets used to Josty and JT sharing clothes. It’s mostly just Tys stealing JT’s things though. If not for the fact that JT’s Avalanche gear is always branded with his name or number, the visual of the sleeves making sweater paws when Josty takes JT’s stuff is indiciation enough to hint what is JT’s and what is Tys’s.

They’re roommates though. They live together in Denver and they’re roommates on the road too. Clothes can get mixed up. It’s happened to Gabe before back when he was a rookie. He wore Nate’s shirt for an hour before someone pointed it out to him.

He genuinely thought he had lost weight. The shirt fit looser than usual but he didn’t think much of it until he got an earful of chirping. Gabe became more careful after that.

After getting caught once or twice, Tys becomes more and more casual hanging around the hotel wearing the number 37. The exact opposite to Gabe’s strategy which puts JT in a situation where he announces, “I’m cold.”

Josty yawns, hugging his arms closer around himself. His eyes don’t leave Nate’s PSP where he’s trying to snipe all his teammates as he replies, “I have a hoodie in my bag.”

JT sighs although he digs through Josty’s bag with familiarity to pull out an Avalanche sweater with the number 17 on it. Gabe catches JT’s eyes drag over the name Compher stretched across Tys’s back. He puts on Tyson’s sweater then goes to reclaim his spot on the bed.

It’s not weird.

Bros sharing clothes. Not a big deal unless someone makes it a big deal. Gabe isn’t going to be that person.

 

> *3*
> 
>  

All the boys get fitted for brand new suits for the Mile High Dreams Gala.

LG helps Tyson get mic’d up so he can go around to interview all the boys while Peter coaches him through the questions the fans want answered. Tyson nods through it all and then completely works by his own script.

“Are you interviewing the boys or hitting on the boys?” Dutchy asks, laughing.

“Well I don’t have a date so,” Tyson attempts to explain before EJ jumps in the conversation to chirp Tyson too.

Gabe laughs along with the rest of them for a moment, then dismisses himself to see what the rookies are up to. The gala is probably their first big media event. Unlike most teams, no pranks were played on the rookies. Gabe is just a good captain like that.

“How are you boys doing?” Gabe asks, approaching Josty and JT hovering around the buffet line. Barbs and Greer swerve around Tyson to avoid being interviewed before making a beeline toward Gabe.

“Tell Tys that that tie doesn’t match,” JT asks Gabe, poking Josty in the chest.

Josty laugh. “But you said I looked good. My mom picked out this tie and you picked out my shirt.”

“Yeah,” JT agrees, “but I didn’t know that you were going to wear that  _together_.”

Gabe looks his rookie up and down, head to toe carefully. He’s somewhat of a fashion aficionado on the team. Still, he isn’t sure what’s wrong with Tyson’s outfit. “It’s not bad?” he says, sounding much like a question.

“Those are different shades of blue,” JT points out. “Blue and navy blue. And like, stripes. You can’t pair stripes with polka dots.”

“I don’t even know what navy blue looks like,” Josty says.

“It’s a nice color. I like it but you’re too blue,” JT tries to put lightly.

“Well,” Gabe says, wanting to make the rookie feel better, “I think you look good. You look like a real lady killer.”

Gabe gets called away by Nate asking for an assist but not before JT chirps Josty saying, “Well you’re definitely killing me.”

 

> *4*
> 
>  

The Avalanche get scheduled to play on Valentine’s Day against the Montreal Canadiens at the Pepsi Center. The boys with relationships briefly lament the fact that they won’t be able to make any big plans for the day but ultimately, it’s game time.

It’s a revenge match since the Habs managed to kill their 10 game win streak.

The game ends at a reasonable enough time which means there’s enough time for them to go out to celebrate the win. The vote ends up being split between going out to a club or to a restaurant for some real food. Gabe feels too tired to go out partying.

“Okay old man,” Nate chirps once it’s officially decided that the team will just split up and go two places. Nate is a free man to go out since his girlfriend is back in Canada.

“We can drive together,” Gabe suggests to the rookies that decided on food.

Josty and JT exchange glances. “I can drive me and Tys,” JT offers. “You can take more guys if we take a separate car.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, it’s no big deal,” JT shrugs. “We can just meet you guys there.”

“You guys know where you’re going?” Bernie asks, phone held in the crook of his neck as he tries to gather his things. “I’m going to pick up Martine and I’ll meet you there.”

“I’ll use my phone to find it,” Josty says.

Gabe is unable to wrangle EJ, Girard, Sven, and Barbs in a timely manner. They leave last and get to the restaurant just as Bernier and his wife are pulling into the parking lot. Gabe heads inside, his eyes peeled for his rookies when he sees Tyson and JT tucked away in the corner at a table for ten.

Sitting against the wall it kind of looks like they’re on a date.

None of his teammates blink an eye so it must just be Gabe imagining things.

 

> *5*
> 
>  

Gabe gets a call that Avs 360 is doing a segment for Jost with color blind glasses. He’s asked to host so he shows up only to find JT dressed up on standby.

“He insisted on coming,” Lauren tells him. “He wants to host.”

It’s not really worth arguing over, plus, the less time he has to spend on camera, the better. His hair just isn’t working with him this morning no matter how much he played with it. Plus, it’s better for the fans to get to know the rookies.

He still doesn’t leave though. He kind of wants to be present when Tyson sees all the red, blues, and greens clearly for the first time.

One thing Tyson can’t stop looking at is JT’s hair.

“It’s like fire,” he says, clearly fascinated while he reaches out to touch. JT seemingly leans closer into Tyson’s reach but Tyson does not actually touch JT’s hair. His eyes haven’t left it though. “Has your hair always been this color?”

“Yeah, I think so,” JT replies. He licks his lips, which, weird, but could mean anything.

“What do you see in the painting?” Lauren asks from behind the camera.

Tyson doesn’t hear her because JT is still talking. “Guess me and your mom don’t have to help you get dressed for —”

“How do I look? In the glasses, I mean.” Tyson cuts in, blushing as he cuts his teammate off.

“I mean, like, as good as you can look,” JT says after a long pause. He does that thing, the lip licking, Gabe is trying not to pay too much attention to.

Gabe is prepared to be insulted on Tyson’s behalf. He thinks the rookie looks good but Tyson is smiling, clearly having a good time with the experience. He’s pretty much been beaming the entire time filming.

“So, like, not that good?” Tyson asks for clarification.

“You look fine, yeah,” JT confirms.

LG calls for the scene to cut for now so the cameras can be set up elsewhere for the last few closing questions. Gabe is about to follow but eavesdropping. He’s not strong enough to resist.

“So I really don’t look good?” Tyson seems to be asking again, putting his back to the rest of the staff present for the video.

The poor rookie doesn’t seem to realize his mic is still very much on.

“I think you look good either way,” JT says reassuringly with his head ducked down. “I can see your eyes better without them.”

Tyson pushes JT away from him, laughing with that same smile he’s had on since he walked into the building. They’ve probably expected that Gabe walked away with everyone else to move onto the next part of the video so the arm JT puts around Tyson’s waist is no illusion or mistake at all.

Gabe sees it.

He sees Tyson reciprocate the gesture, his hands coming up to JT’s collar pulling his teammate in closer. JT says something private, directly whispered into his teammate’s ear and that’s where Gabe draws the line of playing spectator.

“Where’re the guys?” LG asks when Gabe shows up in the hotel lobby alone.

Gabe shrugs. “I’m sure they’re coming.”


End file.
